Angel Heart – 16

Summary:
Ryo takes Tanya back to the shopping plaza where Shanin found her. After sending the girl off, Ryo confronts the bear handing out balloons, who turns out to be none other than Kurahashi Katsumi. Meanwhile, Shanin has been preparing to assassinate Kishimoto. But when the time finally comes, she’s unable to pull the trigger. Ryo shows up to tell her that it’s because her heart and body refuse. Instead, Ryo has taken care of things by exposed Kishimoto to the media with Lee Taijin’s help.
The two of them along with Tanya’s mother go to pick Tanya up from school. Ryo breaks it to Tanya that he’s not her father, but she already knew because she always had a photo of her real father in her bag. Of course the reason he’s telling her now is because he’s brought the man in the bear costume – her real father. Though the case is closed, Ryo still has something to take care of. Shanin has been feeling frustrated ever since she was unable to pull the trigger to kill Kishimoto. She angsts about being incapable of being City Hunter, but Ryo reminds her of how she’s similar to the kind-hearted Kaori. At home, Ryo finds Shanin asleep and touches her chest to feel her heartbeat. From it, he hears Kaori’s voice, and realizes that it was Kaori who stopped Shanin from killing. Kaori tells Ryo that although Shanin is very fragile, she’s got a strong heart. With that, Kaori leaves Shanin, who she calls their most important daughter, to Ryo.

They played 「Gloria」 (by Kanon) again! It’s such a good love song, and so fitting for this series. It’s my favorite song out of all the ones in this series so far, including the OP and ED. It’s a huge reason why I liked this mini-arc’s conclusion, and the episode, so much. Tanya being reunited with her father left me a little misty-eyed (the shot of the solitary bear standing in front of the school seemed perfect), but I liked the final minutes even more. I had predicted that it was Kaori who was still the driving force behind Shanin’s actions, but I really liked how they made such a bittersweet scene out of her leaving Shanin in Ryo’s hands. I hope Kaori’s character doesn’t disappear after this. It’s really the Shanin/Ryo/Kaori relationship that has me sticking with this series. *Goes to listen to Gloria a few more times*

i wonder how it’s doing in Japan, though… i guess the manga must be pretty well-received there since it’s already at volume 17 and it’s got an anime adaptation. hopefully that’s a good sign for the series.

This series is by far my favorite of what is airing right with only the exception of Canvas 2. It’s always nice to see a series that doesn’t insult your intelligence and moves at a nice pace. I hope it lasts along as City Hunter has lasted . . .

Yeah, I think this is a great series, but it does seem to cater to a more “mature” crowd, almost as though TH wanted his original audience which is now older to follow it…. It goes serially instead of being single, double, and triple episodes like CH was – better for younger people who have shorter attention spans.. I really enjoyed CH, but this is a nice change in pace as it doesn’t just give hints of flashbacks, but seems at least in the beginning to go in a serial fashion, only recently becoming a bit more temporal/episodic.
I just hope this series goes for a while, or if the original CH with slightly more modern art came back… It could use a little bit more of the funny “mokkori” lines and scenes…. but I guess it is more serious and mature now, completely different than the photographer and 100% abnormal episodes of the original CH which were hilarious!